A device according to the present invention finds, for example, application in automatic machines for dispensing banknotes, for instance in automatic machines for self-service points, such as the so-called automatic teller machines (ATMs or machines of the Bankmatic type), as well as in machines installed at bank windows or cash-desks for payment at points of sale. The latter are used prevalently as systems of money protection, as an aid to cashiers, such as for example the so-called teller cash dispensers (TCDs).
In these machines, the money to be dispensed to the customers is introduced, generally when the machine is not in use, via the insertion of magazines constituted by boxes, each containing an orderly stack of banknotes of the same denomination and generally in an excellent state of conservation. Said boxes are provided with openings, which are closed during their transportation, but which are opened when introduced into ATMs and/or TCDs, said openings enabling mechanisms for singling out the banknotes (referred to herein also as “singling devices”) present in the machines themselves to pick up, by friction or by suction, one banknote at a time from each individual box until the amount requested is reached (said singling devices require the banknotes to be in an excellent state of conservation).
In the past, in ATMs and TCDs, these types of machines adopted exclusively, and even today still widely adopt, said mechanisms. However, these devices may at times cause two or more banknotes to be picked up at a time (the so-called “double errors” or “chain-effect errors”). Said devices require therefore a system that will enable “rejection” of sums dispensed, the exact amount of which is in doubt, recovering the banknotes taken from a purposely provided drawer, referred to as “rejection drawer”, and repetition of the singling-out process until the exact amount is certainly dispensed. These machines do not enable the money possibly deposited by the customers to be used for subsequent dispensing operations. For these and other reasons, their use tends to be less and less widespread in the art.
In addition to the above machines, a device according to the invention finds application also in machines that can perform both the functions of deposit and those of dispensing of banknotes, such as, for instance, the so-called recycling teller assistants (RTAs). Currently, machines of this type are almost exclusively installed in points manned by operators (bank and/or post-office windows, cash-desks in supermarkets, etc.), but attempts are in progress for extending the same principles also to self-service machines capable of accepting deposits, with automatic functions of counting and verification of the genuineness of the banknotes inserted.
In known machines, above all in the more recent ones, the banknotes are stored in ribbon-type devices, in which the ribbons are constituted by thin, sturdy and flexible films that are wound and unwound on cylindrical rollers.
There are known devices equipped basically with two films and three cylindrical rollers, in which one roller constitutes the supporting roller, or storage roller, to which are fixed the extreme ends of the two films and around which the banknotes are wound enclosed between the two films. To each of the other two rollers, which constitute the supply reels or take-up reels for recovering the film, there is, instead, fixed the other extreme end of each of the films, and an appropriate amount of film is pre-wound thereon.
The supporting roller or storage roller, which is appropriately driven by a specially designed motor, rotates and draws towards itself the films wound on the take-up reels, which usually exert a slight braking action in order to give the right tensioning on the film and hence achieve the right compactness of the film-banknote-film structure. Normally, the two films (one on top of and one underneath the banknote, which is enclosed between them) are identical as regards quality, type and thickness.
The banknotes are inserted individually in sequence between the two films by winding the two films on the storage roller, whilst extraction of the banknotes is performed by unrolling the two films from the storage roller and rewinding them on each of the corresponding reels.
In other words, at the moment of deposit of the banknotes, the storage roller rotates in the direction of winding, draws towards itself the ribbons or films contained in the two supply rollers, and winds, together with the ribbons, also the banknotes that are enclosed therein, thus storing them in sequence around the supporting roller. At the moment of dispensing, the rollers with the supply of film rotate so as to rewind the film, and the storage roller consequently reverses its direction of rotation, thus bringing about extraction of the banknotes contained between the two films and consequent dispensing thereof. Likewise known are storage devices that use just one film and, consequently, just one take-up roller in addition to the roller for supporting the banknotes. The banknotes are conveyed and guided at input to and at output from the supporting roller by means of wheels or other mechanisms that must be adherent to the roll constituted by films plus banknotes. However, the diameter of the winding roller increases during introduction of the banknotes and decreases during dispensing, and consequently said guide mechanisms must be mobile in order to remain adherent to the storage roller whatever the latter's diameter. For this reason, for the purpose of simplifying the mechanisms, it is usually preferred to use the already cited two-film devices.
Some examples of these known devices and of machines that use them are described in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,680,935, 5,533,627 and 4,337,864. These machines are generally equipped with one film-roller module for each denomination of banknote treated. The banknotes deposited are counted and checked and sent to the respective rollers according to their denomination.
The diameters of the rollers associated to each of the devices referred to above are different from one machine to another and depend not only upon the spaces available but also upon the maximum number of banknotes that it is intended to store and consequently upon the length of the film. The trend is in any case that of starting with relatively small winding reels in order to provide for greater space and consequently to enable storage of a larger number of banknotes. There are other parameters that determine the choice of the aforesaid diameters, such as the characteristics of the motors used for driving the rollers, the systems used for governing and regulating the speed, the power and control systems of the motors, the working conditions to which the devices are expected to be subjected, etc.
The above known film-roller devices, albeit solving the problems linked to the use of singling modules that were adopted in the past, present, however, a certain number of drawbacks. In the first place, they can be used for storing banknotes, or in any case exclusively items that are flexible and of contained thickness.
Furthermore, the banknotes remain wound for periods of time that are even relatively long before being dispensed and thus tend to assume a curvature which, in addition to being far from appreciated, is a cause of problems that arise at the moment of their dispensing. The curvature that a banknote assumes obviously depends upon the diameter that the supporting roller has at the moment in which the banknote is wound around it. The first banknotes stored around the supporting roller assume practically a curvature that is very close to that of the roller itself and will probably remain in said condition for a period of time longer than that of the ones which will be stored subsequently, according to the so-called “last-in, first-out” (LIFO) system.
The above fact causes a deterioration in the quality of the banknotes stored close to the roller, and thus said banknotes will present the biggest problems at the moment of dispensing. In some cases, an attempt is made to compensate for the curvature of the banknotes by subjecting the banknotes being dispensed to a process of curvature in a direction opposite to that of winding, for the purpose of recovering a certain degree of flatness. This treatment constitutes a stress that wears out the paper of which the banknote is made, so abbreviating its life. The curvature of the banknotes constitutes a big problem when a single-film device is used since the banknotes, in the dispensing step, tend to remain adherent to the roller itself, also as a result of a certain electrostatic charge that is caused when films made of plastic are used.
In fact, whether one-film or two-film systems are employed, the types of film to be used must be thin, resistant and flexible in order not to bring about an excessive increase in the winding diameter, which is already markedly affected by the thickness of the banknotes, and in order to withstand the multiple cycles of winding and unwinding. In general, a product such as Mylar is used or in any case polyesters, polycarbonates, or the like. These materials are easily charged with electrostatic energy as a result of sliding and consequently impose the need for particular care as regards the mechanisms, which not only must not favour the electrostatic charge but if anything have to attenuate it or, better still, neutralize it.
Also in the two-film systems, at the moment in which the films are drawn by the respective take-up reels, being unwound off the main roller, they are separated from one another around special fixed or rotating pins and, on account of the presence of electrostatic charge, there is never the absolute certainty that the banknote will not remain adherent to one of the two films. Consequently, it is frequently necessary for the banknote to be partially in direct contact with the fixed or rotating pins in the point of separation and divarication of the film in order to enable complete separation of the banknote itself from both of the films.
For this to be possible, it is necessary for the width of the films to be smaller than that of the banknote and for the films to wind the banknote itself more or less at the centre, consequently leaving its side parts exposed. The use of films that are narrower than the banknote leads, however, to another drawback. The corners of the wound banknotes, which are not enclosed between the films, remain exposed, and, when a banknote is inserted and said corners are in a given position, it may happen that the front side of the incoming banknote comes up against the corners of one of the banknotes already wound, thus stopping advance thereof. The banknote may then remain in a position set further back than it should be, with the risk that the next banknote will overlap or be superimposed thereon or, worse still, will get crumpled, so jamming the device completely.
The above phenomenon is accentuated by the fact that the exposed corners of the banknotes stored in the roller tend to lift up as a result of the tension of winding exerted by the films themselves, which act only at the centre of the roll. In order to overcome these drawbacks, there have been used, in some cases, two separate strips of film, set parallel and at a distance apart from one another, so as to cover the corners and to leave just the central part of the banknotes free from the film. This ensures that all the banknotes wound will not present dangerous protruding parts, since the side areas are pressed by the two films. The central part of the banknote, not covered by film, may consequently be used to favour detachment of the banknote from the films themselves in the dispensing stage. This solution almost always calls for the use of four distinct reels, each one driven by a motor of its own, or else the adoption of complex clutch systems.
However, it is highly unlikely that it will be necessary to use the same amount of film for each strip in order to wound a banknote, even though the two strips in question will be positioned on the same face of the banknote itself. Nor is it likely that the strips will require the same tensioning. In fact, it is highly unlikely that the banknotes being wound will be positioned precisely at the centre of the roller and precisely on top of the previous banknote. Staggering of this sort brings about a lack of homogeneity between the outer sides of the roller and its centre. This fact also entails different diameters between one strip and another, and this difference, even in the case of minimal variations, makes it necessary to handle each strip independently.
Other problems of known storage devices arise in the control of some variable parameters on which is it is necessary to intervene according to the conditions of winding and unwinding.
A first variable is represented by the different dimension of the diameters between the storage roller and the take-up rollers. In fact, the diameter of the storage roller increases to a greater extent than the diameters of the take-up reels decrease. With each banknote inserted, the diameter of the storage roller increases by a quantity equal to twice the sum of the thicknesses of each of the two films and of the banknote. On the other hand, the diameter of the take-up reels decreases by twice the thickness of just one film.
The power of the motor that drives the storage roller must be sufficiently high to guarantee the capacity thereof to unwind film from the respective take-up reels both at the start of the process and at the end.
Consider, for example that the storage roller will be empty in the initial working condition, and hence with a minimum diameter, whilst the take-up reels are full of film, which corresponds to their maximum diameter. Consequently, the motor of the storage roller will start to work in conditions of favourable torque (in terms of force and work), in so far as it must cause a roller of relatively small diameter to rotate and unwind film from the take-up reels that have relatively large diameters, given that all the film is still wound thereon.
As the machine proceeds to storage of the banknotes, the situation will undergo constant change to the disadvantage of the motor that pulls the storage roller, in so far as the latter's diameter increases rapidly as a result of the thickness of the two films and of the banknotes, whilst the diameter of the two reels of film decreases only in proportion to one layer of film. It should be borne in mind that normally the thickness of the films used is around 20-30 micron, whilst the thickness of a banknote is approximately 0.1 mm.
Usually, also for reasons of encumbrance, the take-up reels have an initial diameter smaller than that of the winding roller, and hence their diameter will decrease quite markedly. In fact, the length of a banknote corresponds frequently to a quantity of film that occupies more than one turn in the take-up reels. It follows that the situation of the torques of the motors worsens sensibly in the case of the storage roller, which will have to move an increasingly larger mass, as well as one of greater diameter, having at the same time to pull film coming from reels of increasingly smaller diameter.
In order to maintain the space of separation between one banknote and the next constant, or in any case to ensure that two or more successive banknotes will not pile up on top of one another (which would create considerable problems in the dispensing stage), it becomes necessary with each banknote deposited, both with the roller empty and with the roller full, for always the same amount (i.e., length) of film to be used. Consequently, the peripheral velocity of the storage roller and hence the speed of sliding of the film must be constant, and in any case controlled in all conditions, from the first banknote to the last. Maintaining the speed of sliding of the film constant also enables optimization of the quantity of film available in order to enable storage of the largest number of banknotes possible. Consequently, the angular velocity of the rollers must change constantly in order to achieve a constant peripheral velocity. Likewise, the ratio of the torques of the motors that control the winding roller and the reels of film must be controlled and adequate so as to guarantee the right tensioning of the film both with the roller empty and with the roller full. It is possible to understand the need to install sensors capable of detecting the tension of the films, the speed thereof, the entry or exit of each banknote, etc., as well as the need to use motors of adequate power and sophisticated electronic apparatus for controlling the motors and possible brakes.
It is, moreover, necessary to bear in mind that, in this sort of apparatus, the path of insertion of the banknotes in the storage roller corresponds necessarily to the path of their exit therefrom, in the dispensing stage, at least up to the point of separation of the films.
It is necessary for the last axis on which the pulling means are mounted, which, in the storage step, cause the banknote to advance in the direction of the storage roller and extract the banknote in the dispensing stage, to be at a distance from the roller itself less than the length of the banknote (i.e., of the side thereof parallel to the direction of insertion). In fact, the films are hardly ever provided with a sufficient grip to guarantee conveyance of the banknote at the desired speed right into the storage roller. Even a small deceleration of the banknote with respect to the film (i.e., slipping) could cause major drawbacks, such as, for instance, crumpling of a banknote or overlapping or superimposition of a number of banknote.
In the insertion step, a pulling axis could be used which is at a distance greater than the length of the banknote and which launches the banknote at a high speed so as to guarantee that a gripping point is reached inside the storage roller. However, in the dispensing stage, this technique is practically not implementable and it is hence necessary for the pulling axis to be set at such a distance as to enable extraction of the banknote from the film when the banknote is still partially pushed by the storage roller.
This need becomes a problem when the storage roller has been made to enable storage of a number of banknotes such that the difference between the initial diameter of the roller (roller empty) and the final diameter (roller completely full of banknotes) is so large as to prevent the pulling axis from possibly being set in a fixed position. In fact, by positioning the pulling axis so as to be able to extract the banknotes from the storage roller when the latter reaches its maximum diameter (roller full), the axis itself would be at too great a distance from the storage roller when this is empty. Consequently, the pulling axis would not be able to ensure the right thrust exerted on the first banknotes that are to be deposited within the roller itself, nor to ensure their complete extraction in the dispensing stage. This drawback is even more felt in devices that envisage insertion of the banknotes in the direction of their short side.
In addition to the above machines, a device according to the present invention finds application in equipment, such as timed safes used in a large number of branch banks and postal agencies, as well as in petrol stations and in general wherever there exists the need to deposit the excess of money to protect it from attempts at robbery or effraction and, at the same time, the need to supply money to operators (cashiers) when they have exhausted or reduced the supply present in the their cash-desks.
The machines so far used are substantially small safes equipped with a mouth designed to prevent the banknotes from being drawn out, through which the money in excess is introduced in wads, including non-homogeneous ones, causing it to drop by gravity into the safe. The safe is equipped with a door that can be opened only through the activation of a timer, which will enable its opening after a programmed-delay time has elapsed, which is usually long enough to discourage possible thieves from waiting so long. The duration of the delay is generally in proportion to the amount contained in the safe s This frequently results in a problem for operators who, when they require a supply of money for their own cash-desks, have to wait quite a long time, thus creating poor service. In order to find a partial solution to this drawback, machines have been built that are equipped with timed drawers or more usually machines equipped with a rotating drum, which is divided into various sectors (typically 22 sectors). The excess amounts are thus deposited through a single mouth with a mechanism for preventing notes from being drawn out, to which there is made to correspond an empty sector of the rotating drum.
The total amount present in the safe is thus divided into portions of an amount smaller than the total amount. In this way, when it becomes necessary to withdraw money, the operator will choose to access just one of the sectors, or else more than one sector in succession. Since the delay time is proportional to the sum present in the sector selected, it will be relatively short. This is basically a method that enables partialization of the deposits and the subsequent withdrawals in order to prevent the risk of the entire contents of the machine being removed in the withdrawal step.
The limit of these machines is represented by the fact that, since it is not possible for said systems to have excessive dimensions for reasons of space and functionality, the possible partialization is always insufficient. Note that in such machines it is frequently necessary to insert sums that may altogether amount to or even exceed 250,000 Euro, so that even if they have as many as 22 available sectors, to each of these there will correspond partial amounts that are in any case sizeable; hence, the delay times required for dispensing cannot of course be short.
In addition to the machines designed for handling banknotes, there are also known machines that perform functions of depositing and dispensing cards, such as for example telephone cards for the public telephone system, cards for recharging cellphones, pre-paid cards for motorway tolls, ski-pass subscriptions, printed tickets of the scratch-off type for car parks, and the like.
In the last few years, the companies issuing such documents of credit have had to resort to inserting the cards in envelopes in order to prevent the staff responsible for distributing them from possibly fraudulently using, even only partially, the content thereof and then putting them back in the dispensing machines to the detriment of the purchasers. This has of course led to protests on the part of the purchasers, which in turn has over time created major problems for the companies themselves and a consequent lack of proper service.
The use of sealed envelopes, in which the cards are enclosed, enables the purchaser to verify immediately whether these have been tampered with. The presence of the envelope has, however, created an enormous problem to currently existing devices for automatic dispensing of said cards. In fact, all these devices operate through a mechanism which, by means of a pusher having a thickness that is slightly smaller than the thickness of the card, by advancing from a resting position, slides out the last card in a stack, passing it through a “gouge”, which, since it has an opening of a size slightly greater than the thickness of the card enables extraction of the after, preventing the next to last card (which is located immediately above the one to be dispensed) from possibly being erroneously dispensed.
These machines are very widespread, but with the adoption of cards pre-inserted in envelopes they present many problems of operation since the envelope, in which there is frequently also inserted a small instruction leaflet (frequently folded a number of times), lacks rigidity and no longer has a homogeneous thickness; consequently, the action of the pusher and that of the output gauge no longer have the same degree of effectiveness. Furthermore, in the case of other similar items which are generally not inserted in envelopes (e.g., cards for car parks), the introduction on the card of panels of the scratch-off type renders this technique even less reliable in so far as the rubbing between one card and another in the step of extraction could remove in part the removable panel, with the consequent possibility of uncovering the underlying information.
So far no real solution to the above problem exists, so that such cards are frequently distributed using traditional vending machines of the type used for self-service sale of packets of cigarettes or the like. This means that the firms responsible for running these machines have to insert each card manually in a cardboard box or the like, of considerable dimensions (the mechanisms of said machines operate properly with containers having a thickness of not less than one centimetre). Each box is positioned in the magazine of the vending machine once again manually.
One of the biggest drawbacks, in addition to the procedure and to the cost of boxing of each card, is due to the low capacity of these machines. It is to be considered that a telephone card has a thickness, without the envelope, of 0.4 mm and, with the envelope, 0.8 mm approximately. Whilst machines of the pusher type could be equipped with a magazine of a few hundred cards, a column of a vending machine contains at the most (as a result of the presence of box) around 40 pieces. To reach the hundreds of pieces in the magazines it would be necessary to build vending machines of dimensions that are unthinkable or else sacrifice all the columns of the vending machine only for the sale of cards.
There are moreover known machines for currency exchange or machines for changing coins into banknotes and vice versa, for example machines that can perform both the function of depositing and that of dispensing banknotes, coins, etc. By way of example, consider classic self-service currency-exchange machines, which, although they are today a little less widespread in Europe on account of the advent of the Euro, nevertheless remain indispensable, or else a self-service fuel pump or the like. These machines need to have available a device called “Escrow” or “Repentance Escrow”.
To explain the functions of such a device, assume, for example, that a customer intends to change money or to purchase fuel or another product. The customer inserts a certain number of banknotes into the machine to reach an amount corresponding to the price of what he wishes to buy. We shall assume that the first banknotes introduced are accepted by the machine and that at a certain point in the transaction the customer introduces a banknote that is rejected (because it is false or doubtful or in a poor state of conservation, etc.). If the customer does not have available other banknotes that enable him to conclude the transaction he must have the possibility of aborting the purchase and returning into possession of the money that he has already introduced into the machine.
It should be emphasized that the banknotes that the machine should return must necessarily be the ones introduced by the customer. The function of the “Escrow” device is thus that of withholding in a sort of “park” the banknotes introduced up to completion of the transaction and returning them to the customer whenever it is not possible to complete the transaction.
Escrow devices so far proposed are all more or less complicated and costly in so far as they must be adapted to, and inserted between, pieces of equipment that are frequently very different from one another according to the manufacturer, the quality, and the technologies used. For instance, these devices are generally installed between the output mouth of the reader of banknotes (aimed at recognition and validation of the banknotes introduced) and the input mouth of the box or bag for depositing. In fact, the banknotes introduced are stored in purposely provided hermetically closeable boxes or bags, which will then be removed by the competent staff and replaced with empty containers.
Consequently, the escrow device must “park” one or more banknotes, holding on to them until the end of the transaction and then, provided that the latter goes through successfully, finally send them into the box or bag. In the event of a transaction that does not go through successfully, the banknotes must be returned to the customer. The fact that the banknotes parked may be one, or more than one, complicates the structure of the escrow device, which must handle correctly both an individual banknote and a wad of banknotes not properly ordered. Finally, it is emphasized that these mechanisms can rarely handle wads of more than 5 to 10 banknotes.
Likewise known are machines that enable insertion and withdrawal of identity cards or similar documents that are not yet personalized. It may occur, in fact, that in public offices, in which a number of operators are authorized to fill in and personalize said documents (identity cards, passports, driving licences, and the like), non-personalized valid documents may get stolen. Even though said documents are kept in special safety cabinets, once the cabinet has been opened, it is difficult and somewhat troublesome to check that all the operators who have access thereto take out only the number of documents required.